UBM Institutional: Towards a Flexible and Extendable Scientific Undergraduate Experience (FEScUE): Blending Mathematics and the Life Sciences

这个项目正在创建一个多部门的项目，让数学、统计学和生命科学的本科生和教职员工参与联合指导的跨学科研究集群和结构化的多学科课程工作。这一倡议的关键组成部分是基于该机构NSF-IGERT研究生素数项目的教职员工的经验。该项目围绕积极吸引学生参与研究小组而建立，其中包括四名学生，由两名高级教员指导，两名高级教员分别来自数学和生命科学。每个群组还包括一名初级教员，预计他将领导未来的研究群组。该项目使用现有的入门级门户课程和一些高级交叉列出的融合课程，这些课程是从教员参与者之前的合作中开发出来的。主要的新教学部分是两个研讨会课程、一个团队研究研讨会和一个辅助跨学科科学研讨会。所有以课堂为基础的活动都有助于支持共同指导的研究体验。为了促进长期的专业发展，该机构还开办了专注于职业咨询和GRE准备课程。智力价值：随着人们收集数据的能力超过了有效分析数据的能力，以及人们寻求在更大范围内理解现象，对结合数学和生命科学的跨学科研究的需求日益迫切。最初，正在形成三个研究集群(生态与进化、生物信息学和结构生物学)，代表该机构研究的传统优势和新兴优势。将初级教员纳入每个群组提供了一种机制，可以随着新教员研究兴趣的出现而扩大研究群组的范围。更广泛的影响：现代科学家面临的许多问题跨越了多个传统的知识领域。该项目为跨学科的本科生研究和下一代科学家的教育提供了一个模板，这些科学家必须克服根深蒂固的学科界限。该结构基于现有的入门课程、两个新的研讨会、高级融合课程和重点关注的未成年人，这些课程可以很容易地通过创建新的交叉列出的课程和随着对跨学科研究的兴趣的发展而扩大。该项目正在积极吸引全州的高中，并为该州一些最优秀、最聪明的学生提供机会。现有的联系和计划正被用来鼓励传统上在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学科中代表性不足的人群的参与。它通过强调数学和统计学在现代科学工作中的重要性，特别是在生命科学中的重要性，促进了大学教职员工和学生之间的跨学科追求。它灌输了本科学位不是学习过程的结束的概念，并鼓励本科生渴望进入研究生院和独立的研究生涯。

This project is creating a multi-departmental program that engages undergraduates and faculty in mathematics, statistics, and the life sciences in jointly mentored interdisciplinary research clusters and in structured multidisciplinary coursework. The key components of this initiative are based on the experience of the faculty participants in the NSF-IGERT graduate PRIMES program at the institution. This program is built around actively engaging students in research clusters that include four students mentored by two senior faculty members, one each from the mathematical and life sciences. Each cluster also includes a junior faculty member who is expected to lead a future research cluster. The project uses existing entry-level gateway courses and a number of advanced cross-listed fusion courses developed from prior collaborations among faculty participants. The major new instructional components are two seminar courses, a Team Research Seminar and a supporting Interdisciplinary Science Seminar. All classroom based activities serve to support the jointly mentored research experiences. To enhance long term professional development, the institution is also initiating focused career advising and GRE preparation courses. Intellectual Merit: The need for interdisciplinary research that combines the mathematical and life sciences is increasingly urgent as people's abilities to gather data outpace their ability to effectively analyze data, and as people seek to understand phenomena over ever wider ranges of scales. Initially, three research clusters are being formed (in Ecology and Evolution, Bioinformatics, and Structural Biology) representing traditional and emerging strengths in research at the institution. The inclusion of junior faculty in each cluster provides a mechanism for expanding the range of research clusters as new faculty research interests emerge. Broader Impact: Many questions facing the modern scientist span multiple traditional intellectual fields. The project is providing a template for interdisciplinary undergraduate research and the education of the next generation of scientists who must overcome entrenched disciplinary boundaries. The structure is based on existing gateway courses, two new seminars, advanced fusion courses, and focused minors that can be easily expanded through the creation of new cross-listed courses and new minors as interest in interdisciplinary research develops. The project is actively engaging high schools around the state and opening opportunities to some of the state's best and brightest students. Existing connections and programs are being used to encourage participation by populations traditionally underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. It is promoting interdisciplinary pursuits among university faculty and students by highlighting the importance of mathematics and statistics in the modern scientific endeavor and in the life sciences in particular. It is imparting the notion that the undergraduate degree is not the end of the learning process and encouraging undergraduate students to aspire to graduate school and to independent research careers.